AAA honors department for traffic safety

The Ironton Police Department has won an award for traffic enforcement.

On Nov. 14, IPD Chief Pam Wagner traveled to Chillicothe to pick up the 2017 AAA Silver Award for Community Traffic Safety.

There are four levels to the award— bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Wagner said that the Ohio State Highway Patrol usually wins platinum since they concentrate so much on traffic safety.

She said she was happy that the IPD took silver.

“We are thrilled, I am really proud of my officers. We have concentrated heavily on traffic enforcement, especially over the last year,” Wagner said. “We want to prevent any type of injury or death to anyone, and the best way to do that is focus on impaired driving and to make sure everyone has on their seat belt. We want everyone to be safe on the roadways.”

She said the department had received the award in the past, although she didn’t know when that was. She said there were a number of factors that lead to the award.

“We haven’t had a traffic fatality in the past five-seven years. I think that factors into that,” Wagner said, adding that the officers are always watching for erratic drivers and checking for driving under the influence, driving under suspension and other violations. “One thing we really concentrate on is child safety restraints, making sure that children are properly buckled up.”

Wagner said the officers are doing traffic enforcement daily.

“Actually, hourly,” she said. “If we see someone who is impaired or if someone calls in with information, we check it out. We want everyone safe and to enjoy the holidays and to travel safely.”

Wagner said that the Thanksgiving holiday marks the time of year when it gets really busy for the police department.

“Not just traffic, our domestic calls go up this time of year, so do attempted suicides,” she said.

Wagner reminds people that this is the time of year when theft and robberies go up too.

“We want to remind people to never leave gifts or valuables in their vehicles,” she said. “Anyone who leaves valuables in their vehicles is leaving themselves open to crime.”

She reminds people that the car is not the best place to hide gifts in their car since experienced thieves can get into a vehicle easily.

“It’s a piece of cake for them,” Wagner said. “And they do it. I’ve seen cars with thousands of dollars in damage just because somebody left a carton of cigarettes on the seat.”